Warlord – Ch 6

The rear-view mirror on the right side of the vehicle became part of history. Holt cussed, but he didn’t stop or make a U-turn. It meant that they weren’t going to go into a conflict with the mob.

Zero turned around to look back. The structure of his golden right eye changed and his line of sight narrowed down.

He saw that the man who made the shot had a full beard. He was wearing a ragged shirt that had English words depicted on it. The man was black because such clothing couldn’t provide protection from the exposure to the ultraviolet lights. In addition to the dark complexion, Zero saw that the man’s skin on his shoulders and arms had an extra layer.

Zero thought that it should be the result of a certain degree of variation.

The wilderness had a high content of radiation. Anyone would be affected by it except the ones who walked through the night or wore suits like Zero. The latest type of radiation suits was no different than ordinary clothing after several generations of development and improvement. The one Zero had was bulkier and looked like a military uniform. He couldn’t compare how good his uniform was in comparison to the mob who was outside.

The vehicle left the mob far behind as it moved at high speed.

“They wanted the car.” George calmly said as he puffed out some smoke.

Zero bowed down his head.

The surface wasn’t suitable for life. The bases and the settlements that were hidden underground belong to the conglomerates. The distance between them could be counted in thousands of kilometres. It would be very difficult for ordinary people to cross the wilderness if they didn’t have proper transport. That’s why it was logical for the mob to try to attack the vehicle.

The vehicle stopped after half an hour. They were facing the entrance of the town. A half broken sign which reads ‘Welcome to the Silver Tree City’ was in front of them. There was a head of a man stuck on the iron spike. The head was forced onto the iron spike from the neck up. A pungent smell exuded from the man’s head because of the exposure to the sun.

The town looked distorted because of the hot air. Silver Tree City was silent. Occasionally the wind would blow, and they would hear the sounds of cans that rolled around.

“The zombies have bad vision. But they have an extraordinary sense of hearing and smell. We will be telling them that the food is at the door if we drive into the city.” George laughed.

Zero quickly noted down the information and classified it as he listened to George. He gradually formed an idea about the zombies, as he gained more information. He knew that they had to go through a routine check. He checked his equipment. He had a miniature machine gun, a dagger, ammunition and two pots of drinking water.

There was a trace of praise in George’s eyes as he looked at Zero’s orderly actions. Zero was the one to open the door and jump out of the vehicle.

Zero also got off the vehicle. The temperature was comparable to the heat in the desert. It almost burned up people. However, his body quickly adjusted after a brief discomfort. There wasn’t a drop of sweat on his body even as the high-intensity ultraviolet sun rays shined down on him.

The others were already covered in sweat.

Silver Tree City wasn’t a large city, but one which was similar in size to a small town. There were residential areas, schools, libraries, hospital, police station and other urban facilities. In the old era, this quiet town had a population of 1000 people and was known for growing maindenhair trees.

Naturally, there was no green vegetation left. Most of the buildings were damaged. Only the school was intact. But it was the place where the zombies were known to live. So the school was marked and described with the word ‘dangerous’ on the map.

They walked to the city and temporarily choose a garage of the house to rest. George showed the map and developed a simple plan.

‘Queen Mary Hospital’ was next to the police station to the west of the city. The hospital was encircled in red on the map. George pointed at it: “This is our goal. There are five floors and a basement where the storage room is. It is unknown whether there is a zombie or other monsters inside. Especially space such as a basement is the paradise for monsters. We gotta be extra careful.”

George took down his helmet and machine gun: “We have to remove anything that can produce light. If we use light in underground space, then it’s same as telling the monsters about our location. We will switch to infrared equipment. Moreover, put on mufflers as the ears of those guys are extra-sensitive.”

Zero hadn’t received any infrared detectors or muffler. George seemed to have expected this, so he took out extra ones and gave it to Zero.

He took out another map which was the plan of the hospital’s basement: “You will stay by the door and install explosives there. IF there is a zombie or monster following us as we retreat, then we will depend on you!”

Holt nodded: “I’ll fry them like eggs!”

George smiled and pointed to Carl, Tony and Zero: “You will come with me. I’ll be responsible for exploring. Tony and Carl will provide fire support if it’s needed. As for you… I hope that a zombie won’t jump out of nowhere when we retreat!”

Zero didn’t object.

George looked at Alan: “Get to a suitable place and make sure that we won’t be caught by anything when we withdraw from the hospital. At the same time find a route for your own retreat. We will meet outside the city. Well, gentlemen, it’s time to act.”

“We have four hours until the sunset, so we got to act fast! ” George made the remark and moved.

Alan left the team after leaving the garage. Five people quickly advance to the hospital. Moments later they stood outside the building of ‘Queen Mary Hospital’.

The upper floors of the hospital had collapsed. Fortunately, the first floor was well preserved. The door was open, and the dark space was revealed. A cold breeze went out.

It was time for them to jump into the hell. George made a signal and took the lead. The others followed after him. Zero was the last to walk inside.

Zero had removed the goggles and was using the infrared equipment. It was just covering his golden right eye. He put off the safety bolt of the miniature machine gun. Zero was like a cat as he moved through the darkness.

The windows of the hospital were closed. They had some kind of paint on them which isolated the sun. It was extremely dark inside. Zero saw newspaper racks, seats and other things inside the hall. There were several skeletons on the ground.

Zero’s intuition told him that the hospital was very dangerous. It wasn’t as calm as it was on the surface.

George made a gesture, and the team moved from the hall to the fire passage. They went down along the ladder to the underground storage room.

The door to the storage room wasn’t locked. It was half open as a corpse was sitting down by the door. According to the dress, the man was security personnel of the hospital. The left arm of the man was missing. Even some parts of his head were eaten.

George gestured at Holt to stay in here. Holt patted his chest and began to place the explosives.

The team continued.

Two passages went right and left after the door. George came towards the wall and looked at the medicine storage plan which was hanging on the wall. He found the place. The basement where the antibiotics were stored was in the east of the basement.

George slowly but carefully led the team as he moved in front. Zero was moving at the back. Everything seemed normal on sight. Occasionally they would pass by corpses lying on the ground. However, he felt more uncomfortable as the time passed. He felt as if there was a big danger in front silently waiting for them.

Zero couldn’t help but pass by Tony and Carl and pull George. He gestured with his hands – ‘danger’ and pointed to the front area. He shook his head and gestured for them to retreat.

George understood what he meant, but he thought that Zero was just too nervous.

According to the information given by the base, most of the zombies lived in the city’s school! The ten men sent by the base previously had come to perform the same task. However, they suffered an attack from a large number of zombies as they passed by the school. Only one person was able to escape.

There would be no more than ten zombies at the Queen Mary Hospital. George didn’t care much about this amount of zombie.

George quietly patted Zero’s shoulder and then his own chest. He raised his thumb. George waved to indicate the team to continue to move. Carl and Tony looked at Zero with a contemptuous stare as they passed by him.

Zero knew that they were laughing at him.

He wasn’t planning to argue. Since George decided to continue with the plan the Zero was planning to do the part that he was meant to accomplish.

Zero was still the last one to follow. He constantly adjusted his sight to help him see all the suspicious things. Zero heard a sound when they passed by the pharmacy room.

Naturally, heels can’t move on their own, so there was something inside the place.

Zero moved the barrel of the machine gun and poked open the door. He squatted his body so that if something rushed out, it couldn’t attack him on the first try. He kept the same posture as he pointed the miniature machine gun through the door.

In addition to the pharmacy cabinet and a corpse, there was nothing.

The male’s corpse had left a skeleton. However, the man had a police uniform on him. There was a hexagonal star logo on his chest. It meant that he was the sheriff. The man was dead, but two revolvers were clinging to his hands.

Zero looked at the guns. They were 50cm long. Zero frowned as he looked at the shells scattered by the corpse. He knew that the revolver had fired .50 bullets.

“M500 revolver?” Zero knew about the Smith and Wesson m500 revolver from the old era. It could launch .50 bullets which were enough to kill an African elephant.

Zero looked at the corpse. As he had expected the sheriff’s wrist was broken. It was the result of the huge recoil! However, what would the sheriff hunt with such a powerful pistol?

He closed in and took both pistols. He saw that there was a line written in small characters carved on the side.

“To my dear Smith – Mary ”

It seemed that a woman called Mary had gifted the pistol to the sheriff. The sheriff was dead, so Zero decided to use the pistols. They would play a greater role in his hands rather than a dead corpse.

Zero saw that there was a row of unused 0.50 bullets by sheriff’s side. He reached out to take them. The moment his finger touched the bullets he felt a sensation. A dangerous feeling passed through his heart.

At the same time sounds of high heels hitting the ground echoed from behind!